Php Code Search Laravel Package

Getting Started

Minimal Setup

1. Installation

   composer require permafrost-dev/php-code-search
   

   Add to composer.json under require-dev if only for local development.

2. First Use Case Search for all method calls to Auth::login() in your Laravel app:

   use Permafrost\CodeSearch\Searcher;
   
   $searcher = new Searcher();
   $results = $searcher->search(
       base_path('app'),
       'Auth::login('
   );
   
   foreach ($results as $result) {
       echo "Found in: {$result['file']} at line {$result['line']}\n";
   }
   

3. Where to Look First

   • Documentation (if available; check README)
   • Searcher class methods: search(), searchInFiles(), searchForFunctions()
   • Default search patterns (e.g., regex-based) in src/Permafrost/CodeSearch/

Implementation Patterns

Core Workflows

1. Project-Wide Searches

   $searcher = new Searcher();
   $results = $searcher->search(
       base_path(), // Root directory
       '->where('   // Look for Eloquent where clauses
   );
   

2. File-Specific Searches

   $results = $searcher->searchInFiles(
       [app_path('Http/Controllers/UserController.php')],
       'dd('
   );
   

3. Function/Method Call Tracking

   // Find all calls to a custom helper
   $results = $searcher->searchForFunctions(
       'my_custom_helper',
       base_path('app')
   );
   

4. Integration with Laravel Artisan Create a custom command:

   use Permafrost\CodeSearch\Searcher;
   
   class SearchCommand extends Command {
       protected $signature = 'search:code {query} {--directory=}';
       public function handle(Searcher $searcher) {
           $results = $searcher->search(
               $this->option('directory') ?? base_path(),
               $this->argument('query')
           );
           $this->line(print_r($results, true));
       }
   }
   

Advanced Patterns

• Exclude Directories

  $searcher->search(base_path(), '->', [
      'exclude' => ['vendor', 'storage']
  ]);
  

• Case-Insensitive Search

  $searcher->search(base_path(), 'auth::', [
      'flags' => Searcher::FLAG_CASE_INSENSITIVE
  ]);
  

• Callback Filtering

  $results = $searcher->search(base_path(), '->')
      ->filter(fn($result) => str_contains($result['file'], 'Controller'));
  

Gotchas and Tips

Pitfalls

1. Performance with Large Codebases

   • Avoid searching entire vendor/ or node_modules/ directories.
   • Use --directory to limit scope in CLI commands.

2. False Positives in Regex

   • Auth::login( may match Auth::loginUser().
   • Use precise patterns like Auth::login\( (with escaped parentheses).

3. Line Number Accuracy

   • Results may slightly misalign if files have mixed line endings (\n vs \r\n).
   • Normalize files before searching if needed:

     $searcher->normalizeFiles([$filePath]);
     

4. Multibyte Characters

   • UTF-8 filenames/directories may cause issues on Windows.
   • Prefer forward slashes (/).

Debugging Tips

• Enable Verbose Output

  $searcher->setVerbose(true);
  

• Check File Permissions Ensure the searcher has read access to target directories.
• Validate Regex Test patterns in tools like regex101.com first.

Extension Points

1. Custom Search Patterns Extend Searcher to add domain-specific patterns:

   class LaravelSearcher extends Searcher {
       public function searchForEloquentQueries($query) {
           return $this->search(base_path(), $query, [
               'flags' => self::FLAG_CASE_INSENSITIVE
           ]);
       }
   }
   

2. Post-Processing Results Use ->map() or ->filter() to transform results:

   $results->map(fn($r) => [
       'file' => str_replace(base_path(), '', $r['file']),
       'line' => $r['line'],
       'context' => $this->getContext($r['file'], $r['line'])
   ]);
   

3. Integration with IDEs Export results to JSON for IDE plugins:

   file_put_contents(
       storage_path('code-search.json'),
       json_encode($results)
   );
   

Config Quirks

• Default Excludes The package may silently skip hidden files (e.g., .env). Override with:

  $searcher->setExcludes([]);
  

• Memory Limits Large searches may hit PHP’s memory_limit. Increase if needed:

  memory_limit = 512M